Indicted Rep. Duncan Hunter Appears Ahead Of Trial For Misusing Campaign Funds
SAN DIEGO (AP) - The Democratic opponent of California's Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter released a new TV ad Monday aimed at conservative voters in a deeply red district as the indicted congressman made his last court appearance before midterm elections.
The narrator of the 30-second spot by Ammar Campa-Najjar's campaign says the Democrat will put "country over party." It contends Hunter blamed his wife for spending donor money on family vacations and "drunken parties."
RELATED: 164 Times Feds Say Rep. Duncan Hunter, Wife Misspent Campaign Funds
The couple has pleaded not guilty to charges of misusing more than $250,000 in campaign funds. Hunter told Fox News in August that his campaign made mistakes and his wife was his campaign manager.
The couple appeared Monday before a federal judge in San Diego. The judge set a Dec. 3 status hearing after defense attorneys told him the prosecution had handed over a large amount of material from the 2 1/2 -yearlong investigation, including 12,000 pages of FBI reports.
RELATED: Feds Say Rep. Duncan Hunter, Wife Misspent Campaign Funds
The congressman is not due now back in court until after the elections.
Hunter and his wife arrived and left the court separately Monday as they have done since the 47-page grand jury indictment was handed down in August.
They are accused of using campaign money for a spending spree that included purchases at Costco exceeding $11,000 and more than $2,000 at Michael's along with theater tickets, tequila shots, private school tuition and trips to Italy and Hawaii. They are accused of trying to conceal the spending by passing them off in federal records as donations to wounded warriors and other charities.
RELATED: California GOP Rep. Hunter Charged With Funds Misuse Suggests Wife To Blame
Outside the courthouse, protesters set up liquor bottles on a table and hung shopping bags next to a sign that read: "Hunter's Stolen Loot."
About a dozen demonstrators yelled "lock him up" as the congressman left the building. A truck with a U.S. flag, Trump flag and Hunter campaign sign circled the courthouse.
Even with the charges, Hunter is considered to have a strong chance of winning his sixth term on Nov. 6. The 50th Congressional District east of San Diego is the most Republican in Southern California, where the party holds a nearly 15-point registration edge over Democrats.
Democratic candidate Campa-Najjar, a 29-year-old former Obama administration employee, is making his first run for Congress. He has made the indictment a central issue in his campaign in the hopes of unseating the former Marine.
In the ad that started airing Monday - the third one his campaign has made focusing on the indictment - the narrator describes the charges and says of Hunter: "He's so in it for himself, it's criminal."
Then the music changes, and Campa-Najjar is described as a hard-working small businessman who once worked as a janitor in a church. It ends with him shaking the hand of a veteran in a cowboy hat.
Hunter has called the indictment a political witch hunt. His campaign did not respond to requests for comment on the new TV ad.
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press.
